'So may we not even say
thoughtful things about the US without being branded in this way'

I'm not writing this because I feel
guilty about all the things some incandescent e-mailers have accused me
of, mainly of being "anti-American" and cruelly indifferent to those who
died in the US and those who will have to survive after them. They chose
not to hear what I said on BBC's Question Time (when I appeared with Paddy
Ashdown, Tam Dalyell and the admirably thoughtful Philip Lader to discuss
what the US and the rest should do next) and in my column yesterday.

I have said many times over that
these murders were grotesque and inexcusable. Some sections of the media
are already whipping up anger against the BBC programme, claiming it was
gratuitously "anti-American". It was not. We talked in a grown-up way about
how America had to go in for a period of reflection now about its image
and how in a globalised world the only superpower would have to be more
self-critical and respectful of others.

So may we not even say such thoughtful
things about the US without being branded in this way? Is this the meaning,
then, of freedom of speech, which I am very grateful, of course, to enjoy,
living as I do here and not in Saudi Arabia or Iran. How can I be anti-American?
All the people who inspired me when I was young were American people such
as the Kennedys, James Baldwin and those in the civil rights movement.

My best friend is American, also
Muslim and Asian like me, but married to a Jewish American. Their children
are called Adam, Sarah and David and I love them as my own. They live in
Pittsburgh and we were distraught for hours after the planes crashed. I
belong to two influential networks, which bring together American and British
systems, and through these I have come to know and like many key players
in the US – bankers, writers, chief executives and others – and I am not
yet sure if any of them were killed or maimed by the actions of young men
who look like my son.

No, I have not lost a loved one and
those which have must feel an agony which completely overshadows my anxieties
– but please don't insult me by saying that I have not paid any attention
to the pain of America. It is 11am on Friday and the silence to remember
the dead physically hurt me: the images of the people who died, such as
the lovely 4-year-old Julianna McCourt and her mother, Ruth, who must have
clutched her so tightly as they died. Or the African American flight attendant
CeeCee Lyles and all the others that perished and who will not easily be
forgotten.

I am overcome with hate when I see
the faces of those who it now seems highly likely were to blame. We should
all know that unless we can force ourselves beyond this hate and think
about the invisible forces which have set the world alight and try to understand
what kind of soil, what poisons, made these men and women and many more
similar people to come in the future. It might seem too soon for this analysis,
but maybe we can only do this now while we are so shocked. Muslims worldwide
need to think of how we have been silent when Muslim leaders carry on brutishly.

All Muslims, young and old, who unthinkingly
damn the West (sometimes while living in the West) should examine the effect
of such a diet of prejudice on their young. Jewish people of conscience
should be thinking today of how much hatred Israel's recent policies are
sowing. It should be obligatory for enlightened Jewish people to challenge
any view of Palestinians as vermin. The former Israeli prime minister,
Ehud Barak, has trotted out so much prejudice that it was hard to feel
any sympathy for Israel even amongst open-minded Muslims.

Equally, Palestinians and others
should be confronting their own demonic anti-Semitism and feeling shamed
that some of their people were seen laughing at the dead. Europe has to
examine its long history, and superiority and hostility to the non-Christian
worlds. And America, the victim country, has much work to do even as it
decides on its course of action, which will of necessity have to be tough,
of course.

The former US Assistant Secretary
of State, James Rubin, has talked a good deal this week about the United
States as a uniquely civilised nation. The idea of America and only America
as civilised or free or democratic is simply helping to distance Americans
from the rest of the world. More questions need to be asked about why this
country, the United States of America, has supported so many bloody tyrants
in recent history, and to remember that others too suffer from terrorism:
after all, bin Laden's actions killed more than 250 Africans in Kenya and
Tanzania.

Only with this massive universal
self-examination can we move towards a global civilisation. We share your
grief, America – totally. But you must share our concerns. Encouragingly
enough, I received 300 e-mails yesterday from American citizens who replied
to my column and who seem to agree that this is essential.